


painting glass with crayons

by kittylovesbambi



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2019-11-14 12:01:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18052130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittylovesbambi/pseuds/kittylovesbambi
Summary: changmin is a detective and yunho kills people in fiction.they get along pretty well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so i kept saying i wont write anything new till i finish the merman au and hanahaki................................  
> well i lied.  
> hope yall enjoy this anyway haha. oops.

_“Please, stop, please…”_

_The lady sobs, her body wrecking back and forth violently as her knees draw up ever closer into her chest, her palms pressed tightly together behind her back, wrists bound by a coarse rope pressing tightly into her skin._

_He laughs, loud and resounding, like the thunder before lightning strikes, quick and sudden, tearing through air as leather do skin and flesh. His eyes never leave the mark he left, until the red seeps through and paints her back._

_“Why? When it looks so lovely?”_

* * *

 

 _Cm86:_ How do you even? Come up with these things?

 _Uknowme:_ I… Don’t know? Haha. Just pops up I guess. So… What do you think of the update?

 _Cm86:_!!! I’m not sure if I should be afraid of you or not.

 _Cm86:_ IT’S FREAKING TERRIBLE, in the best way of course. I don’t know how you think of your plots?? And the way you write??? It’s so

 _Uknowme:_ So…?

 _Cm86:_ Sorry hold on my boss is calling me.

 _Uknowme:_ !!!!

 _Uknowme:_ You write cliffhangers better than I do D:<

* * *

 

Changmin chuckles at Yunho’s reply before stuffing his phone into his pocket and heading to the guy’s office. As much as he wants to gush over Yunho’s latest update, duty calls and he doesn’t really feel like getting his ass kicked today so.

Yunho will have to wait.

He muffles a giggle with the back of his palm pressed against his lips, a hundred percent sure that the man is pouting at his phone right now.

He pushes the door open.

“Shim! Come, sit down.”

“Yes, sir?”

He picks up a file right off the top of the stack of cases perching precariously at the edge of his desk and passes it to Changmin, a new case.

“Likely a cold case,” He says, pulling a cigarette from the stash under his desk, confiscated from the junior officers downstairs most likely, puts it between his lips and light it up. He draws in a breath, and exhales ash grey. “But the media has dogs sniffing all over it so Chief wants us to put our best on it, at least to put on an act.”

Changmin pauses from flipping the file, looks up and lifts a brow.

“Yeah well,” He concedes on exhale. “You can do what you want. But make sure you don’t stall on your other cases. You know, the ones with hope.”

Changmin shuts the file, splaying his palms out flat on the file, hoping the man across the table doesn’t notice his hands shaking.

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

 

 _Cm86:_ You won’t believe what just happened.

 _Uknowme:_ WHaat?

 _Cm86:_ You can’t tell anyone. You have to promise.

 _Cm86:_ Oh heck, it’ll probably be all over the papers anyway.

 _Uknowme:_ Are you going to keep baiting me or

 _Cm86:_ I got a murder case!! The body is like almost the same age as me but

 _Cm86:_ Whatever. God I can’t believe I got it.

 _Uknowme:_ Are you… excited? That a real person is dead??

 _Uknowme:_ I’m erm, totally not deleting all my social media accounts that you know right now.

 _Uknowme:_ Don’t come after me please.

 _Cm86:_ Please hyung

 _Cm86:_ I’m not HAPPY someone died but

 _Cm86:_ You know how many times we come across murder cases? Almost none.

 _Cm86:_ And the chances to be assigned to one? ZERO.

 _Uknowme:_ Hahaha, I was joking Changminah

 _Uknowme:_ I’m not trying to dampen your spirits I’m sorry ):

 _Uknowme:_ I’m excited for you too!

 _Uknowme:_ What’s it about?

* * *

 

Ok, Changmin takes it back.

Standing in front of a maggot-ridden skeleton stenching up the entire autopsy clinic, he’s far from ecstatic. There’s a cute coroner with her breasts almost falling out if not for her coat and essential information on the width of its hips and the indents on its skull but he only concentrates on keeping his lunch in his stomach.

If that isn’t an indicator of his discomfort, then nothing will.

Because he’s a boob man through and through.

Oh, the battle is lost.

He excuses himself and practically tears the door of the clinic off its hinges, hurtling down the hallway to the restroom and greets his favourite miso ramen for the second time that day.

Well, _almost_ to the restroom.

* * *

 

He sits at his desk, his lips pressed together bitterly, plugs in his earphones and turns up the volume but he can still hear his colleagues’ obnoxious laughter, those shits.

“Oh come on Changmin,” Kyuhyun stumbles up to him, a hand pressed on his stomach and his laughter badly stifled. “Don’t be such a sourpuss, I’m sure it won’t happen again. Probably.”

“Fuck off,” Changmin fires back, pushing his acquaintance (yes, he just got demoted from ‘best friend’ five seconds ago) off his desk and onto the floor, the idiot still rolling around, basking in his misery.

Also, he’s never thinking that coroner is cute ever again, boob-ed or not, that traitorous backstabber, telling her boyfriend who works in highway patrol about his shame. Now everyone in the entire building knows.

Argh.

When the hell is Kyuhyun going to get off the floor and get back to work?

He stands, intending to walk over and give him a swift kick in the balls but apparently Changmin’s phone is just slightly more humane than its owner, and decides to distract him from adding a new case major crime’s workload.

 _Uknowme:_ So how’s the case going?

 _Cm86:_ It’s… ok.

 _Uknowme:_?? Did something happen?

 _Cm86:_ …. I embarrassed myself. Big time.

 _Cm86:_ I kind of… threw up… at the corridor… after seeing the body…

 _Uknowme:_ D: Is it your first time seeing a body? It must have been so difficult D:

 _Uknowme:_ Are you feeling better now?

The corner of his lips quirk up. Only Yunho would be so sweet to him to be honest.

“Who’s that?” Kyuhyun perks up from his spot on the ground. He smirks, recognising that look on Changmin’s face. There’s only one possibility.

“Go back laughing your ass off, I’m hoping you’ll choke on your own spit soon.”

“Hey you don’t kiss your little online boyfriend with that filthy mouth do you?”

“Screw off.”

“You aren’t even angry enough to curse anymore!” Kyuhyun exaggeratingly coos, “That’s true love right there bro.”

Yeah, Kyuhyun is now demoted to stranger.

 _Cm86:_ Yeah, I’m ok now. At least now I know what to expect. I’ll be prepared next time.

 _Uknowme:_ Good :) You’re all grown up now!!! Seeing a dead body and all :D

 _Cm86:_ Hyung, I’m 32.

 _Uknowme:_ It’s ok to mature late ;)

 _Cm86:_ …

* * *

 

“The deceased was twenty-three years old, a Jane Doe. She was found on the mountain, a fair distance away from the hiking trail, by some kids that wondered too far off the trail for their own good. The body has basically reduced to bones and most of the decomposition and rain destroyed a lot of evidence so not much surfaced from the autopsy, but that she was beaten over the skull with a heavy, angled object, splitting her skull cleanly and killing her immediately. Her ankles were also crushed. So I think she was kept captive somewhere for some time, broke her ankles to stop her from escaping, before the killer decided to get rid of her for whatever reason.”

“And?”

Changmin looks down, fidgeting. He didn’t have much, he knows, but-

“And you’re requesting for more manpower?”

“Well sir,” Changmin starts, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice, “The body is three decades old and we have so few leads. But this is a small town, we can at least try to cover the people in this area to check if the killer is still around.”

The man, god Changmin refuses to call him his boss, at least in his head, looks at him long and hard, the pity evident in his eyes, and points the remote to the screen to turn it off.

“Sir-“

“No, Changmin,” He insists, tobacco-stained fingers pinching the body of the cigarette hard, the paper creasing. “We’re already short-staffed. I can’t give you any more men to go on this, this wild goose chase with you. You dont even have any leads! How can I give people to you when you have nothing?"

He gets up to leave, reaching over to press the end of the cigarette into the ashtray. When he straightens up, he gives one last look to Changmin, resigned.

“I already said that it's going to be a cold case, Shim. These cases never get solved. Don't try too hard and just focus on your other cases ok?"

Changmin only moves from his spot when he hears the conference room door click shut, dropping onto the chair nearest to him and curling over, his elbows crossed over his knees and his face buried in his arms, shouting every vulgarity and all its variations into the little cavity he has made with his body.

Hopefully no one brought their child to work that day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lack of updates on like.... everything. school is killing me and im dead in a ditch so. here's some incoherent nonsense i coughed up... 
> 
> and btw this may get a bit confusing cos i'm trying to hint... at...... thINgS.

_Now there are two._

_In his defense, that girl had asked for it._

_Well, no, not really, she just wanted to find her sister._

_The only mistake she made, was actually stumbling upon the right place._

_Poor girl. She had spent the past few days in the park handing out ‘missing person’ flyers, standing right at the spot where her sister had gone missing. She was there all the time, regardless of rain or shine._

_“Please, my mother is ill and my father is gone.” She begged and pleaded to everyone and no one, because not a single person stopped to listen to her. “She’s the only one I have left, please help me find my sister.”_

_He had hid behind the trunk of a huge oak tree then, one hand gripping the strap of his schoolbag as he dug his bloody fingers into the rough surface of the trunk with his other._

_He deserved some sort of punishment for his silence, after all._

* * *

 

 _Uknowme:_!!1! Changminnieeeee

 _Cm86:_?

 _Cm86:_ Yea?

 _Uknowme:_ Nothing :D Just wanted to check if you’re alive.

 _Uknowme:_ It’s been three days since my last update and it’s the strange that

 _Uknowme:_ You haven’t mentioned anything about it.

 _Cm86:_ Ahh… Sorry hyung

 _Cm86:_ Just been busy lately, I had to go door-to-door to check on the entire town

 _Cm86:_ So I didn’t have the time to get to it yet :/

 _Uknowme:_ HAHA nah don’t worry about it

 _Uknowme:_ I was just worried something happened to you

 _Cm86:_ I’ll go read it later tonight ok?

 _Cm86:_ Thanks hyung <3 I’m ok.

 _Uknowme:_!! don’t force yourself if you’re too tired

 _Uknowme:_ Ok go concentrate on your work now I just wanted to know if you’re ok. I’ll leave you alone now.

 _Cm86:_ <3

“Are my eyes fooling me? Shim Changmin, the iron-hearted gladiator of major crimes, sending a heart emoji?”

Changmin immediately turns off his screen, almost dropping his phone in his haste to turn it off. He turns to the idiot behind him and deadpans, “Fuck off.”

“You’re saying that so often it’s starting to sound like ‘I love you please ship us more’,” Kyuhyun snickers, leaning against the wall of his best friend’s cubicle.

“Anyway, I’m here to extend an olive branch, to bring joy to your universe, to-“

“What, exactly?”

“To,” Kyuhyun smiles, all smug, leaning his elbows on his desk and resting his chin on his palms, fingers wriggling a tad too enthusiastically, “Help you with your case.”

Changmin looks at him sceptically. Part of him knows Kyuhyun won’t pull his leg about something like that, not when he had experienced first-hand how sensitive Changmin had been the past few days. But he still has cases that he has to clear himself and-

“Chief asked me to help you out, seeing how you haven’t gone home for the past week,” Kyuhyun answers, somehow having read his mind. “Oh don’t give me that face, Chief may be a little bit cold but he isn’t heartless. Now shove your ass over and tell me what’s the progress on the case.”

* * *

 

 _Cm86:_ Hyung! I’ve read it

 _Cm86:_ POOR GIRL OMG. D:

 _Cm86:_ I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT ASSHOLE NOW GOT BOTH OF THEM

 _Cm86:_ WHEN IS HE GETTING CAUGHT HYUNG D: YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE SURE HE GETS CAUGHT RIGHT?

* * *

 

Nothing.

That’s exactly what they came up with after two weeks of overtime and too many mugs of coffee.

Changmin starts to regret pressing on with the case.

But at the very least, although he would never admit it even if he was held at gunpoint, Kyuhyun is there holding the crumbling fort with him. They had visited every household in town, knocked on every door, had the victim’s face reconstructed and plastered on the front page of every paper in the nation, and yet not a single person had stepped forth to claim her.

Changmin phone beeps, he smiles.

At the very least, he thinks, Yunho hyung is trying his best to cheer me up.

It was a terribly shaky selfie of him and his plate of deceptively innocent looking French toasts.

 _Cm86:_ It’s burnt underneath isn’t it.

 _Uknowme:_ …….. No…..

 _Cm86:_ Hahaha. Thanks hyung, it cheered me up.

 _Uknowme:_ :D

He turns his phone off and keeps it in his drawer in attempt to resist continuing the conversation.

So yes, his asshole of a best friend may be right, he may have a crush on Yunho. And honestly, what’s there not to like? Yunho is kind, cheerful, and _very_ easy on the eyes. Sure, he can’t cook a meal to save his life, and still washes his whites and colours together, but Changmin is nothing if not a great detective and an even more amazing housekeeper. He doesn’t mind spending a lifetime teaching him all the tips and tricks he got from those ‘easy lifehacks’ videos that he binges on every so often to destress.

But of course, this is only in his imagination, an idealistic dream. He hasn’t even seen Yunho in real life before, even though the man lives only about a two to three hour drive away.

For all he knows, Yunho could really be keeping a few bodies in his basement, considering how vividly terrifying his stories were.

“Changmin-ssi.” Kyuhyun is back with two fresh cups of coffee. There’s a stack of old murder cases from the three towns away. They are, evidently, running on desperation at this point but they are still hoping that perhaps they can find some sort of link between their Jane Doe and another victim. “Stop fantasising about your boyfriend and focus on the work at hand, okay?”

How the heck does Kyuhyun know when he’s thinking about Yunho anyway? Damn him.

* * *

 

The department wants to close the case.

“It’s a waste of resources,” He said. He doesn’t talk about how his only saving grace is Kyuhyun’s aid, doesn’t talk about how the case have been placed on the backburner for every goddamn department, doesn’t how hard they had to fight for every tiny bit of progress in the case.

All while he sat there and smoked his fucking cigar.

“I’ll give you three more days,” He compromises before Changmin can even open his mouth. “Three more days, and if nothing comes up, then it’s over.”

* * *

 

They decide to visit the site where the body was uncovered again.

They say it’s to try to find more evidence, but both know that they’re just going to pay respects to the victim, to apologise for the failure of their duty. It isn’t like that they have discussed it, but Changmin packs a bottle of his favourite alcohol and Kyuhyun picks up the biggest bouquet from the florist near his home before they leave for the site.

They stay completely silent throughout the ride to the reserve.

_I’m sorry._

That’s really all Changmin can think about during their hike up to where the body was found.

The soil keeps giving way to every step he takes, mud clinging on to the side of his shoes and water seeping through the material and wetting his toes.

_I’m really sorry for everything._

When they finally reach the spot, it is already completely different from what they remembered from mere weeks ago. There had been heavy rainfall the past few nights and the ground had been stripped of a layer of soil or so. The only thing that remained was the blue and white police tape that cordoned off the area.

He lowers his head and mouths an apology, then he takes out the bottle of wine.

* * *

 

_“Drink it!”_

_Her hands were tied to a rusty water pipe in the corner of the basement, her ankles lay useless. He crouched over her, a handkerchief over her face as he poured cheap, foul-smelling wine over it._

_He could hear her choking._

_And he was laughing._

_“Please stop! Please let her go, just, just deal with me, please, I promise she won’t tell anyone!”_

_He covered his ears and shut his eyes. He doesn’t want to hear any of it, he doesn’t want to be part of it, he doesn’t-_

_Then she looks at him._

_Her lips were bruised, and blood was everywhere, leaking from the broken skin on her back and staining the concrete ground copper._

_She cries, desperate._

_“Please.”_

* * *

 

“Changmin-ah.”

Changmin looks up from packing the cups back into his bag. Both of them had already downed a shot and poured another on the soil.

_We’re so sorry._

Kyuhyun is standing at the far corner, right where the tape is tied to a tree. He has only half a bouquet left in his hands; the other half scattered all over the ground behind him. He’s looking out into the forest, his shoulders tense.

“Changmin-ah.”

“What is it?” Changmin stands up, sensing something amiss.

Kyuhyun stays still for a while, then turns around, his expression is one of excitement as it is one of horror.

“You don’t think.” He laughs, stilted and unsure. “The forensics team would be stupid enough to have left a skull behind right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont ask me why they drank wine with shotglasses ok.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise, im not dead. apparently it takes being emo and yunho and changmin performing on fns to make me remember that i should update sOMETHING. sorry, i've just been busy lately.
> 
> WARNING: suicide and romanticising suicide. pls don't ever romanticise suicide.

_He brings down extra food and water at times, a pathetic attempt at repentance._

_A few pieces of bread, a bit of butter, and a bottle of tap water. His offerings are meagre, but they are all he can afford._

_He doesn’t have much either._

_They usually sit in silence for hours after that, no words exchanged, no comfort given. They wouldn’t have helped anyway. They just wait till they hear the wooden floorboards creaking above, their reality set in stone, their physical selves imprisoned by their will, which was withered to near nothing._

_“I cannot disobey him,” He had told them the first time they asked him for help._

_“It’s not possible.” He turned his back when they pleaded the second time._

_They didn’t ask again. Maybe they saw the marks on his back as well._

* * *

There has always been something fantastical about high places.

Peering out of a window, climbing over the railings at the edge of a cliff, tethering on the steep slope of the mountain.

He’ll always close his eyes and imagine. Butterflies erupting in a spectacle of colours in his stomach, a thrill that seizes his heart and takes away his breath, the wondrous sensation of flight mingled with the panic of free fall.

It tastes as sweet as a poison apple, and it’s something that he has thought of for a long time.

_The mountain._

He has an affinity with high places. They’re fantastic, thrilling, and exhilarating. It’s the only way he wants to go, to end in a spectacular firework of red, for his heart to bang so hard against his ribs until they don’t.

* * *

_He pulls hard, the muscles on his small frame screaming._

_“Faster, you idiot!”_

_He doesn’t respond, his lungs bursting, but he pulls harder, ignoring his body’s protest. Drops of rain slips down his cheeks and fans his bangs out all over his face, its ends stabbing his eyes whenever he blinks._

_He keeps his gaze on the destination, a terrible figure at the top of the trail. It is nothing but a dark silhouette, his vision is obscured by a blanket of black over the night sky and the tears that it is shedding for the heinous deed that is about to occur. Yet, he can almost see the sharp teeth glinting under the dim moonlight, a smile so foul and bloodthirsty, and eyes that are yellow and bloodshot, the eyes of a starving wolf, satisfied._

_He keeps quiet and does whatever he is asked to do, moving robotically and responding mechanically to every order given._

_He barely realises that he has buried his heart along with those girls that day._

_As they leave, he looks up to the sky, an apology sitting on his tongue._

_“It’s not your fault,” They told him._

_“It’s all your fault,” He heard._

_He clenches his fist, and walks on, apology unuttered._

* * *

 Yunho stares blankly at the paper on the table.

It takes a long while, but eventually, he smiles. It’s a big case, he can’t believe Changmin is the one on it. He’ll get to the bottom of it, get promoted, and he won’t have to answer to his asshole of a boss again.

He’s glad.

His phone dings and he picks it up, getting on his feet and starts pacing as he reads the messages.

 _Cm86:_ I saw your latest update!

 _Cm86:_ Whose perspective are you writing from…

 _Cm86:_ Does the killer have another prisoner :O

 _Cm86:_ Oh and btw did you see the news?

 _Uknowme:_ Yes, I saw it.

* * *

Their faces were reconstructed in record time and their pictures were distributed to every news outlet in the country. The size of their team suddenly quadrupled in size, with Changmin and Kyuhyun being the lead investigators.

The whole department scrambles, trying to salvage the little dignity that remains after years of complacency.

_How did they manage to miss another body at the exact same site?_

_Two people, one woman and one little girl. Two whole people went missing and… nothing was reported till now? How horrifying…_

They work around the clock, following up on hundreds of tips from callers all around the nation. Many were false and few were valuable, the amount of effort put in far exceeded the quality of the result, but it was progress no less.

“Who would do that to a couple of orphans?” Kyuhyun asks, horrified, as Siwon comes back with their latest lead confirmed.

“Some sicko, I bet,” Siwon says. “Judging by the state of their corpses, they must have been tortured for some time too… Gosh, I really want to nail this bastard.”

“We’ll get there,” Changmin says, running his fingers through his hair. He’s exhausted, barely functioning by virtue of caffeine. He can barely think about the case anymore, it has been draining theorising extensively on false leads, only to have each one thrown out the window the next day. It is the most tiring guess-and-check ever, but it isn’t one he’s willing to give up on.

He looks at his phone.

He feels bad for not contacting Yunho in so long. Their exchanges had been sporadic and in staccato, his greetings and replies short, Yunho’s, shorter.

He’s probably busy too, he thinks, sighing.

“Just text him, will you?” Kyuhyun says after Siwon walks away. “You’re exhausted, you’ll need all the emotional support you can get.”

“Wha-“

“You get ridiculously energetic whenever you talk to him. And I need you to be energetic now, ok?” Kyuhyun gives him his best attempt at a smirk, the effect tempered slightly by his horrible dark eye circles. “Meeting room in five minutes. We have to brief them on the new lead.”

Changmin breathes, annoyed at how much his best friend is able to see through him. What the hell is that guy? A detective?

He opens up the chat and almost starts typing. 

 _Cm86:_ Sighs, I'm so tired, hyung ):

 _Uknowme:_ You’ll find the person soon, Changmin-ah. I promise. And then you’ll be happy, right?

 _Uknowme:_ :)

* * *

_It took too long._

_A took a whole decade before he could properly apologise._

_The knife is bloody in his hands. But strangely, he doesn’t feel the guilt that he reads about in stories, doesn’t feel the need to rush to the sink to wash off the evidence of his sin._

_He just looks blankly at the body on the ground, the man’s face flat on the ground. It was funny, because for a split second, just before the life completely seeped out of his eyes, his father had looked human. He didn’t see the sharp teeth or the predatory gaze. Instead, there was fear. It was the same look that the girls gave him before they fell limp on the basement floor a decade ago, and it was the same look that he had in his eyes whenever he saw himself in the mirror for as long as he could remember._

_The recognition that something precious was about to be violently stolen away from them._

_He bends down, raises his arm, and brings down the knife again. Some cuts are more difficult than the others, but whenever the blade gets stuck, he pulls it as hard as he had pulled their bodies the other night until the bones give way. The strokes were messy, but the message was clear._

_When he is finished, he feels his heart beating in his chest._

_“I am sorry.”_

* * *

 It is every bit as exciting as he thought it is, his heart pounding desperately against his ribs. He has never felt so alive, so liberated.

_Forgiven._

He closes his eyes before the impact and smiles.

_Changmin-ah, you’ll be happy, right?_

* * *

A phone dings, in the heart of a brilliant display of red.

 _Cm86:_ … Hyung? Are you ok?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry to kaara and lana, cos i told them a different, cooler, more fun version of this fic and eventually still decided to crash land this in the land of darkness and depression hahaha ermz. 
> 
> i hope yall can go watch hot hot hot now and distract yourselves from this monstrous disaster with some summer toho cuteness :D


End file.
